Buying off the plan in Canberra, advice requested.

Mitzi_girl said :

I bought it directly through the developer – a well known, well thought of Canberra Co.

Hello Mitzi_girl, would you mind very much giving the name of that company? Are you still happy with your purchase? Thanks for your answer.

I have purchased off the plan over in Franklin, due to be completed and settled very soon! the time passed since I first put down the deposit has flown! I am very excited! I know what I paid for it and everyday I watch what is happening in that area both sale wise and rental wise. No matter which way I choose to go, I have made an extremely good purchase!! I bought it directly through the developer – a well known, well thought of Canberra Co. and they have their own internal salespeople who couldn’t have been more helpful! I have had a few dealings with other slipperyish agents in the past, but these people dont have the same desperation as those guys – they are paid a salary, so can afford to be honest!! haha. I say go for it!!

affordable said :

dont buy new house from real estate agent, they will get a $12-18,000 cut for the sale, get quotes from several builders who do offer fixed price contracts, insist on getting details of previous clients, look at their current houses or units being built that are same or similar,

If you are buying a unit in a multi-unit development, there is very little chance of getting one without going through the agent – they are almost always sold exclusively through one agency.

If the OP was asking about buying a house off the plan, that would be possible.

dont buy new house from real estate agent, they will get a $12-18,000 cut for the sale, get quotes from several builders who do offer fixed price contracts, insist on getting details of previous clients, look at their current houses or units being built that are same or similar,

I bought off the plan in the late 1990s and did OK, but I’ve done better with older well-built brick flats. In the time the off-the-plan unit doubled, the others nearly tripled in value. Another advantage is there is still room to generate a higher increase by doing them up, even if its bit by bit.

Either way it’s location all the way. Generally, the closer you are to where it all happens the better your long term increases will be. Often the smaller complexes do better as well, especially compared to places like the Metropolitan and the Glebe Park towers.

I won’t buy off the plan again, because I could never have lived in the one I bought (luckily I never needed to). As a pure investment for ten years minimum in the right area it’s hard to go wrong, but don’t expect the property to be as good as spruiked.

Read all the stuff about toxic apartment builders, get some good legal advice, talk to people who are in the know (and are willing to discuss rather than cover-up) and make an informed decision.

If you get it wrong, you are in for years of anguish, major drop in the value of your investment, and maybe even a bulldozed apartment in the end.

If you find any valuable information, share it on RiotACT.

people I know have had a lot of issues buying off plan. And since the govt is not naming the dodgy developers I would be careful. Have you thought about seeing a financial planner to see if you could buy earlier? Maybe something established? Just a thought…

Depending how the purchase is done, you can save quite a bit of money buying off the plan.

If you purchase off the plan through a real estate agent, the price of the property is normally guaranteed to be at a fixed price, but going through a builder the price is not normally fixed and you could pay a lot more than the original agreed price for contingencies .

Benefits also can be the need to only pay a deposit and no further payments until settlement allowing to save more money in the meantime, also paying the current market rate when the market price could rise as the house is built.

Downside is the possible variable costs and purchasing without actually seeing the house in person and not knowing the quality of the building work.

I have bought off the plan through an agent, no problems so far. Touchwood.

Buying off the plan is ill-advised – you’re not able to gain an appreciation for the size of the place, or assess the quality of the workmanship gone into building the property. You’re effectively spending large amounts of money to buy something sight unseen.

As with anything, if you do your research first and have reasonable expectations, buying off the plan is fine.

Some points:
– Since it seems from the tags that you are looking at buying a unit off the plan, be aware that unit developments quite often take longer than expected. Just because the contract says it will be ready by 30 June 2012 or whatever, does not mean you should end your rental/sell your house/etc until it is actually finished and ready to settle.
– Check who the builder/developer actually is (many have a few different companies names) and see what buyers have thought of their previous developments. This could mean knocking on doors if need be.
– Pay careful attention to the inclusions and plans in the contract, and be aware that variations can be made to these even after the contract is signed. Also, it is what is in the contract that matters, anything the agent says or promises you is not binding and they know it.
– Consider your options – will the potential capital gain or price savings you might make from buying off the plan now outweigh the benefits of being able to wait until they are finished to decide if you want to buy one. Also consider if your own circumstances might change between now and then, as 2 years is a long time to be locked into something.
– Lastly, shop around, because there are heaps of unit developments in Canberra either just finished, going up now or about to.